


Looks Like I Strayed

by kaiaka



Category: The Blacklist (TV)
Genre: Gen, Post-Season/Series 02
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-14
Updated: 2015-06-14
Packaged: 2018-04-04 08:39:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4131303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaiaka/pseuds/kaiaka
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Liz has never been one to sit on the sideline. What happens when Red manages to teach her to control her passion instead of being controlled by it?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Looks Like I Strayed

**Author's Note:**

> Feedback very much appreciated. 
> 
> All recognizable characters (ie. Liz and Red) aren't mine. Some of the lines used are also either directly from or modified from episodes from the first and second seasons of the Blacklist.

_Stay calm, Lizzy. Breathe. Breathe._  


 

Staring out the window, she barely felt the car slow as it came to a stop in front of a restaurant she wouldn’t have even dreamed of setting foot in ten months ago. Only a quiet “Elizabeth, we’re here.” finally jolted her into closing the file on her lap and refocusing her attention on the upcoming meeting. Into going over the details one last time. For the thousandth time.

 “Thank you, Evelyn. Keep the car running, this shouldn’t take long.”

 

  _Be fluid, and forget your training. Remember, you’re not an FBI agent any more; you don’t walk with the weight of the United States government behind you now. Whatever respect you can command has to begin and end with you._

_Truth doesn’t matter here. When the people on my— this side of the law look at you all they will see is the criminal they’ve only heard about. Use it, Liz. Use their expectations against them. It’s your greatest advantage._

 

Ignoring the restaurant attendant’s proffered assistance, she steps out of the car and straightens the brim of the hat that cost almost as much as her suit. Sparing the attendant just enough of her attention to slip him a handsome tip, she walks into the into her first cold approach. No contacts, no backup. Just herself, a couple unknown arms dealers, some information, and a hunch they might be interested in it. It’ll be a gas.

 

_They took your job, your friends, your sense of self, even your sense of right and wrong. Everything you wanted from life, and I can’t get it back for you. I’m sorry, Lizzy. I’m so sorry, but there are things in this world even I cannot fix once they’ve been broken._

_So what do I do now?_

_It seems like you have two options: either turn yourself in or go into hiding and hope that they eventually stop looking for you._

  

As she moves to take out the henchmen guarding her targets, she understands. Fully understands what Red, Dembe, Evelyn, Baz, and even Mr. Kaplan have been trying to explain for almost a year.

She isn’t the first person she knows who's life was destroyed by the Cabal. Nor will she be the first to wrestle that narrative away from them.

 

_Or perhaps there’s a third option._

  

So she lets it go. Tom, the Post Office, the child she never got to be a mother to, Tom Connolly, she lets it all go. Everything but the core of her.

The parts that don’t fall away with the rest, the core of what makes her? Sam, the fire, the Senator she almost killed, her sin eater, the others? She builds a wall made of stronger stuff than sand and locks away everything outside of her choice, everything that is “Lizzy”, with a key only four have access to. Becomes the monster the stories want her to believe she is.

“Hello gentlemen, my name is Elizabeth Keen. Do sit down, we have a lot to talk about.”

 

_Revenge is too easy, and over so quickly. I would hope for more than that._  

 

When she finally leaves the meeting (later than been planned), and slides back into the car having not just gotten the information she was after but also securing two new shipping contracts Evelyn smiles for the first time in ages. “Well done, Lizzy.”

 

_Elizabeth Keen, what a pleasure._

 

“The information checks out. It’s a little sketchy in one area, but shouldn’t be enough to give us any truly nasty surprises.” 

“Well then, let’s go get him.” 

Raymond, hold on. We’re coming for you.

 

_We’re going to make a great team._

 


End file.
